"There was no feud between us at all" - Luke Humphries plays down UK Open final controversy with Dimitri Van den Bergh

Luke Humphries backed up his world title in recent weeks. At the UK Open he reached the final and last week he also won a night of the Premier League Darts.

Humphries has been piling up high averages in recent weeks too. "I'm not angry or anything, I just feel good in my skin," Humphries told Het Nieuwsblad. "The beginning of this season was somewhat marked by fatigue, I think. I feel tired now too, but still I'm getting good results. My top form is just there and statistically I'm even playing better than last year (when he won four majors, ed.)."

"So nothing has changed since I won the World Championship. I still feel I am one of the best darters in the world and I have shown that in those few matches since the UK Open."

Humphries had matchdarts in the final of the UK Open, but couldn't capitalise, leaving the win to Dimitri Van den Bergh. "I've been thinking about it, but in a positive way," he said. "I was in another major final and if I had played at my best, there would have been a different winner. I felt a little tired and Dimitri did an excellent job of winning the match. I was the one who got lucky by getting two more match darts in the end. I felt like the lesser player through that whole final. But I did draw confidence from that whole tournament."

"You saw that in Premier League Darts last Thursday," he continued. "If I keep playing like that, I'll be top of the world all year. That moment where Dimitri slowed the game down? That didn't do anything to me. He adjusted his own rhythm and won. We were gold for Photoshop afterwards I'll admit that. I've seen myself in a McDonald's, museum..."

Humphries and Van den Bergh have known each other for a long while. "We kind of grew up with each other anyway," laughed the 29-year-old Englishman, who is barely four months younger than Van den Bergh. "So there's really no sort of feud developing now, not at all. Dimitri is a great darter and a top guy. We always wish each other the best. There was even a period when I looked up to him. First he dominated on the Development Tour, then it was me. Then suddenly he won a major, which was my big dream."

"I wanted at all costs to imitate what Dimitri had managed to do. That's what I've done now. We just get along really well. Nothing he did in that final could affect our friendship. Dimitri also works extremely hard and deserves all the successes he has already achieved. We were still saying at the UK Open, look at us, we've come from so far and here we are in a major final."

Humphries became a father for the first time last year, but of course, with his busy calendar, he is not home much. "It comes down to managing your calendar the best you can," he states. "I'll do as many European Tour events as I can because, there are so many rankings and these tournaments play a big part in that. If you perform well, you get to start in the second round on Saturday and you don't have to start as early as Friday. That saves me a day. Here and there I do skip floor tournaments. A little more than I would like, but family is more important than anything."

"I want to be physically present with my family as much as possible and not end up with burnout. So there are times when I just don't want to leave for yet another tournament. Just last Wednesday, in fact. But I have to, but it's my job and I know I have to make sacrifices to be number one in the world. But I also love doing this, don't get me wrong. I feel tremendously honored to be able to do this."